Child trafficking victim: 'They conned me'

KOMO-TV STAFF

Updated 10:00 pm, Saturday, January 23, 2010

A young victim of human trafficking is breaking her silence to warn other potential victims as a bill works its way through the state Legislature that would crack down harder on traffickers.

Although there are already crimes against selling kids as prostitutes, proponents of new legislation say the penalties aren't tough enough. They want to change that.

It's a hidden crime ... hidden by the darkness of night ... hidden by the silence of the traffickers and their victims.

But one young victim, Brianna -- whose life was saved from prostitution -- can remain silent no longer.

"If I can save a life with my story it's worth coming out," she said. "Let's look past the shame and the guilt."

Brianna is a straight-A student, from a good family. But the traffickers were able to lure her in, like they've done to thousands of girls -- and young boys.

"They prey on them. They manipulated me, they conned me into thinking I was safe and that they were going to take care of me," she said.

She all of a sudden found herself working in a Seattle strip club.

"They tried to get me into prostitution," she said. "They tried to get me to consider it at least, and they approached me at the strip club, and he offered me $1,000 for an hour."

But a friend found her and got her away from the traffickers just hours before they were sending her to Phoenix, Ariz.

Linda Smith of Project Hope said, "They move them by the event, and there's a lot of money in Phoenix and they typically move a lot of girls into Phoenix and into critical places where young girls can be sold."

Smith, a former congresswoman, works with these kids -- eand so does a Sheila, who herself was a victim. They're all fighting for new legislation.

"If we do something that will deter that behavior I think it won't continue to be the way it is right now," Sheila said.

She says more than 300 girls were trafficked in the Seattle area last year.

"It can happen to anybody," added Brianna.

The bill, SB 6476, now pending in the state Legislature, would raise the penalty for trafficking from $500 up to $5,000.

If a car is used, it could be impounded with a $500 impound fee.

Plus lawmakers are hoping that the publicity of stories like Brianna's will help get these victims to break away.